The actors strike is over. Is Hollywood back in business?

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing more than 60,000 Hollywood actors, announced Wednesday evening that its longest strike ever was ending at 12:01 a.m. Thursday after union negotiators unanimously agreed to a contract with studios and streaming companies, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). SAG-AFTRA's board will review the proposed deal on Friday, and if they sign off, the actors will likely ratify it in the coming weeks.

Both sides celebrated the deal, which ends six months of costly paralysis in the Hollywood content machine, starting when screenwriters walked off the job in May. The AMPTP and Writers Guild of America agreed to a new strike-ending contract on Sept. 24. SAG-AFTRA started striking on July 14, marking the first dual strike by Hollywood actors and writers since 1960. 

SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP agreed on a proposed contract that locks in historic gains for actors, boosts minimum pay, streaming residuals, and pension and health plan contributions, and provides new safeguards for artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA said the three-year deal was worth about a billion dollars. The dual strikes caused an estimated $7 billion in economic damage, Cal State Northridge expert Todd Holms told the Los Angeles Times. 

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With the strike over and the 2023-24 TV and movie seasons salvaged, expect "a rush on soundstages and crews" as TV shows jockey to restart production, The Wall Street Journal said. "Studio executives and producers will begin a mad scramble" to line up stars, writers and insurance," The New York Times added. 

This "should be a rapturous time in Hollywood," with "champagne for everyone!" Brooks Barnes wrote in The New York Times. Instead, the mood is "decidedly mixed" as resentments linger and the currents that caused the labor rupture — the rise of streaming and AI, the decline of cable — continue to wreak havoc on Hollywood's business model.

Analysts said higher labor costs will add 10% to production budgets. "Companies are not going to increase their budgets accordingly," said movie-business writer Jason Squire. "They will compensate by making less. The end." 

And while A-list actors can immediately return to red carpets and promote their projects again, most actors will just go "back to auditioning and back to their normal lives," strike captain Elyssa Phillips told the Los Angeles Times. "The people who wait tables will still be waiting tables. They just may have auditions after work. But I've never been so excited to audition in my entire life."